Explosives seized in Sasaram before Sonia rally

Kaimur Police on Tuesday recovered over 12,000 pieces of electronic detonators and 128.5 kg of high grade ammonium nitrate explosive used in mining operations and also arrested a supplier, officials said.

Incidentally, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is to address a rally in Bhabua on Thursday in support of former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, who is the party candidate from Sasaram.

A police team, led by Mohania SDPO Suresh Kumar, intercepted a vehicle on the Grand Trunk NH-2 at Kudra, some 200 km southwest of the state capital, following a tip off.

The explosives, kept in a Ertiga car, was reportedly brought from Nagpur in Maharashtra.

Police and intelligence officials were interrogating Sonu Kumar, the arrested supplier, to ascertain his background.

“It may have been brought in to disturb the parliamentary polls,” said Ratnamani Sanjeev, Kaimur superintendent of police, about the seized explosives.

“The markers on the packets seized suggest that the supplier was Solar Industries, Bazargaon, Nagpur. The explosives were in sachets weighing 125 grams each,” the SP added.

Kudra falls under the Sasaram constituency and large parts of it are affected by Maoist insurgents who are known to use such explosives.

Sasaram, Aurangabad, Karakat and Gaya parliamentary constituencies, bordering the hilly and forested regions of Jharkhand, go to the polls on April 10.

Police has been put on high alert over fear of Maoist infiltration from the state and adjacent Uttar Pradesh, both of which have borders with Sasaram.

The Union home ministry had issued high alert to the state police and paramilitary units about their possible movement only last week.

Rohtas, Gaya and Aurangabad police have seized huge quantity of explosives and detonators from illegal mining areas within the last one month.